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The Ronald Reagan 1980s were all about going back to the future--rewriting the past to better suit Reagan's upbeat vision of the present. So, Sylvester Stallone's John Rambo (a psychotic, shell-shocked Vietnam vet in the original film, transformed into a flag-waving hero in the sequel) was able to go back to Southeast Asia and "correct" history by decisively (and single-handedly) winning that messy ol' war on behalf of America. Red Dawn is a paranoid cold-war cautionary tale that presents us not with a rosy alternative past, but with an ominous vision of the future, metaphorically plopping a piece of Russian-occupied Afghanistan into America's back yard. In this celebration of the Second Amendment, storm troopers from the Evil Empire descend upon the inadequately defended United States and hold America hostage. Stealthily avoiding the invaders, a motley group of red-blooded, small-town, gun-toting teenagers go underground to form the Wolverines, a guerilla resistance squad dedicated to making those Russkies rue the day they parachuted onto U.S. soil. It's a darn good thing those kids had the right to keep and bear arms, huh! Written and directed by macho filmmaker John Milius, the self-described "Zen fascist" who also cowrote Apocalypse Now, as well as the horrifying shark story Robert Shaw tells in Jaws. The cast includes Patrick Swayze, C. Thomas Howell, Lea Thompson, Jennifer Grey (a few years before she and Swayze took up Dirty Dancing), Charlie Sheen, Powers Boothe, Harry Dean Stanton, and Ben Johnson. Red Dawn was a commercial success, although audiences invariably split into two camps, finding it either patriotic or appalling. Whatever your verdict, the film remains a telling reflection of its era. --Jim Emerson

Most helpful customer reviews

This movie: Red Dawn, is a classic film. It is a film that every young man will love to watch and enjoy it wholeheartedly.The script of the movie is creative. Communist Paratroopers have landed and are taking over. The regular soldiers are fighting them. However, the Russian communists have managed to land in many areas devoid of any regular American soldiers.The movie depicts a slice of the bigger picture. The communist paratroopers land in a small town in the middle of nowhere. The adults are caught unaware and its upto few young teenagers to fight for their town(and country). They grab their rifles and head to the hills to wage a war against communist takeover.There are some minor points in this film that made me give it 4 Stars instead of 5 Stars.1.) The fighting scenes are unrealistic. It's hard to believe a few teenagers can take on such a large group of regular communist soldiers, again and AGAIN! It is true that it is just a movie but the movie that ads more realism to it becomes more suspensefull. The producer/director should have added few adults to the mix to make it more realistic and thrilling.2.) The movie is somewhat like a comic book. There is not much depth to Action and some of the characters.However, these two are just minor points. The movie gets 3 stars for a great storyline and another 1 for its memorable scene where a communist soldier takes away a brave man's gun from his cold dead fingers! and the bumper sticker behind the car is shown on the camera.

I loved watching this movie as a kid and watched it several times over and over on HBO. The neighbors and I used to pretend to be the Wolverines hunting down the Commies and defending our hometown right in our old back yards. It was great. Apparently a lot of young men in the U.S. did the same thing and the U.S. operation that captured Saddam Hussein was named Operation Red Dawn after this film.The film takes place during the early 1980s. The Cold War between the U.S. and the Soviet Union has been heating up and in a mass alliance with Cuba, Nicuragra, and several other countries the Soviets make a mass "first strike" attack on the U.S. Paratrooper land on the football field of a small (Colorado?) town, killing teachers, and blowing up cars. A small group of friends escape in their truck and head into the mountains. Two girls eventually join the group and for a small time so does a downed U.S. fighter pilot. The group starts fighting back against the invasion forces and begins calling themselves the "Wolverines", named after the local high school mascot. The film ends on the eve that the tide of war begins to turn.Many of the actors and actresses in the film were hardly known before this film and the movie formed the foundation for several of their careers: Patrick Swayze, Jennifer Grey, Lea Thompson, Charlie Sheen. Even Harry Dean Stanton has a small role as the Wolverine brother's dad. John Milius directed and under his guidance everything in the film clicks.This movie probably resonates more with men than women and is one of the few movies that will bring a tear to a fellow's eye. The film has a lot of very good messages that are perhaps even more substantial in this post-Sept.11th era than they were during the Cold War. I still get chocked up everytime I see this thing.

This film is a frightening WWWIII scenario from the fertile mind of self-described "zen facist" John Milius. Mr. Milius is not as gung-ho commando as everyone would like you to believe, it's just that there are about 5 actual conservatives in Hollywood and he happens to be one of them.As scenario's go, it's a nifty one. Russia and the Warsaw pact take out Europe and NATO dissolves. Cuban and marxist central American armies use commercial airlines to drop airborne units into the midwestern United States while Russia uses ICBM's to take out key American cities and defense installations. It is not unrealistic that terrorists or a foreign government could use commercial airliners to launch a sneak attack on our own soil, especially in light of the events of 9-11.Ron O'Neal, "Priest" of "SUPERFLY" fame, plays the leader of the cuban forces, who faces off against the local high school football team which has taken off to the mountains to use their outdoor skills to form a guerrila army and use hit-and-run tactics to fight back. O'Neal gave a good performance as a man who has become what he depises, as his character fought wars of resistance in central america. Now, the tables are turned and he has become the imperialist aggressor.Milius is actually using "RED DAWN" as a thinly disguised allegory of the benefits of the second amendmend, which does not give Americans the right to bear arms, but the right to use arms to defend land and country. While personally, I think a rifle/gun is a cowards weapon, who is to say what a person would do in a kill or be killed situation? The second amendmend is probably the only thing standing in the way of a total takeover of our country.

This movie is cheese whiz on fried toast, an empty box of Cheerios, a side of microwavable bacon, two glasses of OJ, maybe some reheated, day old pasta, a bowl of plastic fruit for extra color, hash browns and tabasco sauce - all on a Christmas place-mat in August, maybe a loaded colt python lying flat on the table pointed towards the front door. It is escapism, actionism and romanticism - and I would expect nothing less coming from the mind of Mr. John Milius. If you ever get the chance to see and hear him in an interview - check out HEARTS OF DARKNESS: A FILMMAKER'S APOCALYPSE, and you will clearly understand what was behind this film.To this day, whenever I go sledding with friends, we scream out "Wolverines!" as we fly down an icy hill into oncoming traffic. Testosterone fuels the mind with the greatest, most outlandish and dumbly brilliant ideas... and so, we get RED DAWN. It goes beyond patriotism - it's the hero fantasy. I think almost anyone - at least males - have felt that echo, that pinging in the soul to make your mark in the world. To crush your enemies, to see them driven before you and to hear the lamentations of the women. To place yourself at the crumbled alter of fantasy, praising Krom for giving us this electrified moment to shine in the wispy, dark shadows of reality. I have, anyway.Despite all the ridiculous plot devices and twists, the characters have what it takes to grab your sympathy. Yes, the characters are thinly drawn, but enough IS there for those actors to bring real soul to those inky, folded pages that fit snuggly in Mr. Milius's back pocket.Read more ›